


All About Us

by nothingislocked



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, John and Karkat being stupid and adorable, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-04
Updated: 2014-01-04
Packaged: 2018-01-07 12:02:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1119596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothingislocked/pseuds/nothingislocked
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John and Jade always danced together when they were upset. Jade grows out of it, but one day when Karkat is upset, John decides to teach him how to dance to cheer him up.</p>
<p>Written for SSJohnkat2013.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All About Us

**Author's Note:**

  * For [zzzzzzzo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zzzzzzzo/gifts).



> I listened to the song All About Us by He Is We while writing this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QcEQbWtkME
> 
> Merry (belated) Christmas, zzzzzzzo! I'm sorry it's borderline late and 5ever long. I hope you like it!

John has always loved dancing. Not as in ballet or anything too spectacular, he just dances. It started when he and Jade very little, their dad would take the two of them to visit their grandparents and once, after they were supposed to be asleep, Jade and John had heard music drifting from the kitchen. With Jade being as adventurous as she was, and John seeing a perfect pranking opportunity, they decided to investigate. When they peeked around the corner, they saw their grandparents dancing. Upon realizing it nothing to do with cookies or adventure, they returned to their beds and talked until eventually falling asleep. The next day, as they were playing, they decided to try for themselves. When Nanna came to let them know she had baked cookies, she found the two bickering over who was supposed to lead and stepping on each other’s feet. The woman laughed and informed the children of their treats, as they devoured the sweets she told her husband of what she had walked in upon. Later that evening would find Nanna and Grandpa dancing and giggling with John and Jade in the kitchen. Jade and John would continue the tradition any time they were upset, happy or just bored for years to come.

 

In seventh grade, Jade gets her first boyfriend and she stops stop dancing with John. They have a small group of five friends: Rose, her younger by one day twin half-brothers Dave Alpha and Dave Sprite (their older brother named them, he did so in an ironic manner), and then John and Jade. Davesprite (there was an incident with a videogame, a shitty sword and a not quite thawed Thanksgiving turkey that made them stick to calling him that) and Jade have been getting very close, and decide to try dating. In the eighth grade, they break up. That night, John grabs his laptop and makes his way to Jades room. He turns on the song they heard their grandparents listening to so many years before and holds out his hand to her. She smiles sadly at him and grabs it allowing him to pull her up. He dances with her until they both got too tired, then lie in her bed talking until the sun rises the next morning.

 

In ninth grade, their group of five grows to seventeen. It starts out with Jade having a class with Karkat Vantas, Sollux Captor and Feferi Peixis. Jade and Feferi become fast friends, and soon the aspiring Olympian is dragging her group of twelve to join John and Jade’s meager five. Most importantly, that’s when John meets Karkat. The two of them end up sitting next to one another at lunch, and they argue about movies. Karkat insults John frequently, and gets even more annoyed when the buck toothed boy laughs at him. After that, John starts noticing him in most of his classes. Their shared PE class finds both boys friendless, so in attempt to prevent his boredom, John decides to strike up another conversation with Karkat. By the end of the school year, almost every weekend finds one of the boys at the other’s house, and the two of them arguing over movies sprawled on the bed.

 

Eleventh grade is when Karkat and Terezi brake up. John is supposed to go over to Karkat’s to have a movie marathon, but an hour before, John gets a call from Karkat, cancelling their plans. John questions the abrupt cancellation and is informed of the break up before Karkat ends the call. Neither Karkat’s voice nor the fact that he had just been broken up with was what concerned John the most; it was the fact that during the entire conversation not one insult came from his typically angry friend. John grabs his keys, calls out a goodbye to his dad, and leaves for his friend’s house. When he arrives, he goes in without knocking, as he has been doing on Karkat’s orders for the past six months. He quietly walks up to Karkat’s room, some terrible romcom audible through the door. John knocks softly, but no reply comes.

He knocks again, slightly louder and rewarded with a, “Go away dad, don’t you have a fucking job to go do?”

John opens the door, “Yeah, but I don’t.” Karkat is huddled at the foot of his bed, a blanket around his shoulders and a pint of ice cream beside him. You can see tear streaks down his cheeks when he snaps his head to stare at you. His gaze is full of shock for about half a second before it turns into anger.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Egbert? I told you I don’t want to deal with your shit tonight.”

John walks over and sits next to Karkat, “Well I can’t just leave my palhoncho alone when he’s sad. That has got to be the most uncool thing ever. And I know everything about what’s cool.”

Karkat rolls his eyes but scoots over to give John a bit more room, “Yeah fucking right. You wouldn’t know cool if it stormed up to you, shat on your face, and shoved its fist up your dick.”

John laughs and bumps Karkat’s shoulder with his own, “That’s gross Karkat.”

“Will you just shut up and let me wallow in my own pathetic misery like the fucking infant I am?”

“No way dude, I’m here to cheer you up.”

“All you’ve succeeded in is pissing me off.”

“See, better already!” John laughs and Karkat thinks his friend misses the smirk that passes over the heartbroken boy’s face. They finish the movie and the ice cream, Karkat decides to put on some music. They lie back on the bed and talk for a while before John gets an idea when a slower song comes on. “I know what’ll cheer you up!”

“I highly fucking doubt it.”

 “Come on Karkat, it’s what always cheers me up,” John stands up and holds his hand out to Karkat.

Karkat grumbles but takes the proffered hand and allows John to pull him up. “What kind of dumb fuckery is your cock peeling ass doing now?”

John smiles at the comment but says nothing in return. He keeps hold of the hand he used to pull Karkat up but shifts the grip. “Okay, keep this hand in my grip, and put your other one on my shoulder.”

Karkat regards the boy with suspicion, but complies, “What the hell are you doing?”

John places his hand on Karkat’s waist, “I’m teaching you to dance.”

“Are you kidding? Why the hell would this make me feel better?” John smiles and explains the steps to Karkat. Karkat curses when John twirls him, causing him to trip. John keeps their hands locked and prevents him from hitting the ground. “Thanks a lot, Egbert; you nearly got me fucking killed.”

John laughs, “No way man, I won’t let you fall.”

Karkat grumbles and takes a step in the opposite direction as John, and accidentally steps on the bespectacled boy’s foot.

“Ow, Karkat! Just let me lead, okay?”

“Shit, I’m sorry. Can we just quit? I keep stomping your foot like the clumsy asshole I am.”

“It’s okay; I don’t mind you stepping on my feet. It’s kind of expected when you’re learning.”

“This was a terrible idea from and equally terrible person,” Karkat tries to pull away, but John tightens his grip.

“Come on Karkat, just try.”

“Hell no.”

“Pleeeeeeeease? You can do it.”

He grunts, “Fine whatever.”

After that, they continue until they’re both worn out and collapse back on Karkat’s bed, both smiling. John and Jade haven’t danced together in about a year, he is pretty sure his feet are permanently bruised, and he has a really weird feeling; but John doesn’t care. He has a new dance partner and Karkat is back to handing out insults and curse words like cheap cigars. That night when they fall asleep next to one another, neither boy notices that they haven’t quit holding hands, and when they wake up, neither boy cares.

 

The next time they dance together is the Christmas dance three months later. Karkat doesn’t even want to attend, but John convinces him with promises of double picks at the movie marathon they are having immediately after. The night goes by relatively quickly and what seems like no time (but if you ask Karkat it was forever) they are playing the last song for the night. John hears the music start playing and smiles at the familiarity of the song. He runs over and grabs Karkat, dragging him out on to the dance floor.

“What the hell, Egbert?”

“You have to dance at least once, that’s the rules.”

“There is no fucking rule saying that.”

“Is too, sorry, I don’t make them. Now, shoosh and dance.”

Karkat rolls his eyes and lets John lead them across the floor. John smiles at him and receives an eye roll in return. They start dancing, and John feels the strange feeling that has been occurring more often in the past few months. He dips Karkat and smiles at the look he receives from his friend. He pulls Karkat back in close and returns to their twirling pattern, looking almost choreographed to the untrained eye.

Karkat surprises John by suddenly taking the lead and dipping him. John feels his prankster’s gambit dip but doesn’t care. The spotlight that moves over the floor flashes over them at the exact moment Karkat flashes a cheeky grin and John feel his heart stop. He turns bright red and prays Karkat doesn’t notice.

John is so wrapped up in his personal revelation of affection that he doesn’t notice Dave, Terezi, Rose, Kanaya, Sollux and Jade all shake hands on something. All he pays attention to is the boy currently trying to get his attention because the song has ended and he’s just staring at Karkat like an idiot.

 

The next few weeks finds John acting differently around Karkat, and not without the latter noticing. John doesn’t know how to act about his newly realized less than platonic feelings towards to one of his best friends, and starts to distance himself from Karkat. When Karkat confronts him about it, all the short boy receives is a giggle and a claim of not feeling well. John feels ridiculous about not being able to confront Karkat about his feelings.

On Christmas Eve, all of John’s friends are at the group Holiday Party being held at Rose’s house. Every year, Dave managed to get Karkat and John together under the mistletoe at least twice, and John didn’t think he could handle that. Instead, he opts to tell everyone he is sick and stays home. He’s halfway through Ghostbusters 2 when he hears his front door open. He doesn’t think anything about it until he hears heavy footsteps on the stairs leading to his room.

He gets up and quietly moves to his door, only to have it fly open and hit him in the face. John falls to the ground and hears a loud string of curses.

“Karkat, what are you doing here?”

“I know you aren’t sick shit for brains. In case you have managed to forget in the past sixteen hours, you left my house not even twenty four hours ago, bouncing like the fucking sun was shining from every orifice, burning innocent bystanders for miles around,” as Karkat was ranting, John stood up and went back to his bed, “Then, when I get to the fucking party that you force me to attend annually, even though I hate it with all of my pathetic existence, I find out from fucking Harley that you aren’t even showing up. I texted you six hours ago and asked if you were going. Do you remember your reply was, fuckface? It was, “hehehe of course!””

“Karkat, I’m sorry. I just, didn’t want to go.” Karkat walks so that he’s standing in front of John, his arms crossed and scowling.

“I never want to go asshat, yet there I was. Standing near the front of the house like a ditched prom date waiting on her asshole of a best friend to show the hell up, but instead he opts to stay home and fondle himself all night.”

“Karkat, you just called yourself a girl,” John laughs, trying to change the subject.

“Really, that is all you got from that? I would think you sustained some form of brain trauma from being beaten with the door, but you’re always fucking like this.”

“Kaaaaaaaarkaaaaaaaat, don’t be mean to me, I’m sick.”

“Bullshit, and we both fucking know it. When you get sick you get even whinier and really fucking pale. You’re perfectly healthy unless incredible stupidity can be considered an ailment. If that’s the case you need to see a doctor as soon as possible, because this is a critical case of stupidity. I don’t think you’ll recover. I’ll have to plan your funeral and seek grief counseling like a fucking widow. Will my husband ever return from stupid?”

Karkat sits down next to John and the latter leans his head on his grumpy friend’s shoulder. They sit in silence for a few moments, watching the paused screen of John’s movie before John smiles and jumps up.

“What in the Christ fucking hell are you doing, Egbert?”

John makes an elaborate gesture, complete with bowing, and holds his hand out to Karkat, “Dance with me, Kitkat!”

“Yes, because the way to get people to do what you want is to call them stupid as hell pet names and act like an idiot,” Karkat grumbled. He took John’s hand regardless and allowed the taller boy to pull him to his feet. “Attention Captain I Traded My Brain For Shitty Ass Movies, there’s no music.”

“True Lieutenant I Watch Movies Intended For Preteen Girls, but we don’t need any.” John takes one of Karat’s hands in his own and places his other on his dance partner’s waist.

“The movies I watch are fucking masterpieces, at least they actually have good acting, Mister No Homo But I’d Totally Bang Nic Cage!” He glares at John and places his unoccupied hand on the other’s shoulder.

“Hey, my love for Nic Cage is purely platonic! At least I don’t cry at Disney movies!” He smiles and takes a step forward, beginning dancing with Karkat without music.

“That is a fucking lie, you cried for a full hour after Toy Story 3!”

“That’s Pixar, completely different.”

“They are the same company you festering pile of shit.”

John shakes his head, “Nope.”

“I swear every single thing that comes out of your mouth gets progressively more stupid. By the end of your life you’ll be reduced to guttural grunts and inappropriately scratching of your more private areas before society finally takes pity on you and kills you out of mercy.”

John laughs and spins Karkat around, “You really know how to flatter a guy, Kitkat.”

Karkat blushes, just enough so that it’s visible, “Shut the fuck up, Egbert.”

John laughs again, “No way man.”

“Do you get some fetishistic joy from pissing me off?”

“You are pretty adorable when you’re angry, Kitkat.”

“I am not adorable you miserable ass licker.”

“You totally are. You are the most adorable person ever. You are the pinnacle of adorable. It’s you.”

Karkat grumbles and tries to pull away but John laughs and pulls him closer. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, asshat? Let me go, I will shit on all of the things you love.”

 “You’re going to shit on yourse- “John cuts himself off and let’s go of Karkat, taking a step back.

Karkat’s eyes widen, “What the hell did you just say?”

“I, nothing! It was just me being stupid again,” he laughs and scratches the back of his head, “I didn’t say anything. Man, it’s getting late. You should probably get going home. Don’t want you dad to worry, right?”

“Egbert. What. Did. You. Say?” Karkat takes a step closer to John.

“I, I may or may not have accidentally implied that I may or may not sort of have a little bit of a crush on you. I’m really sorry, Karkat. I wasn’t going to say anything because I know you don “

Karkat cut him off by slapping a hand over his mouth. “Is this one of your fucking jokes, Egbert? Because if it is, I swear I will kill you, resurrect you, kill you again and make sure nobody ever finds the body.”

John frantically shakes his head and says something beneath Karkat’s hand. Karkat facepalms and removes the hand from John’s mouth. “I wouldn’t do something like that to you. That wouldn’t be funny.”

“You’re serious right now? You actually like me, in a more than platonic let’s be friends but I’m still going to make you do couple-like things because I’m an oblivious asshole way?”

John looks down, blushing, “Yeah, Karkat, I really, _really_ do.”

Karkat lets out a short laugh and places a hand on John’s cheek. John looks at him in confusion. “John, you are the most stupid person I will ever meet,” Karkat pushes himself up on his tiptoes and places a quick kiss on John’s lips.

John’s eyes widen in surprise, “Karkat? I, you, me? Really?”

“Yes, asshole. Really.”

John laughs and pulls Karkat into a hug, “So, Kitkat, will you be my boyfriend?”

“Oh my fucking god I hate you with every fiber of my being. Yes, you enormous imbecile.”

John laughs and kisses Karkat, this time it lasting a bit longer. After they break apart, John rests his forehead on Karkat’s, “Best Christmas ever.”


End file.
